IndyCar: Alex Palou’s golden chance to restore a legacy

Alex Palou’s victory in the #10 car to open up the 2021 IndyCar season could be the start of something special for the second-year driver and Chip Ganassi Racing.

All eyes were on Chip Ganassi Racing’s new addition for the 2021 IndyCar season on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park, that being seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson making his series debut behind the wheel of the #48 Honda.

But it was their other new addition, Alex Palou, who stole the show.

After starting in third place in Sunday afternoon’s 90-lap race around the 17-turn, 2.38-mile (3.830-kilometer) natural terrain road course in Birmingham, Alabama, Palou and the #10 team opted to stay out longer than polesitter and then-leader Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren SP, and their two-stop strategy paid off.

Palou led three times for 56 laps, including the last 24, and secured the victory by 0.402 seconds over Team Penske’s Will Power in second place.

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The 24-year-old Spaniard showed potential in his rookie season last year driving for Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh behind the wheel of the #55 Honda. He was taken out in his debut at Texas Motor Speedway in a wreck that was not his fault, but two races later, he found himself on the podium at Road America.

In his first ever Indy 500 qualifying attempt, he ended up in the Fast Nine Shootout and qualified on the third row in seventh place.

In his first race with Chip Ganassi Racing following an impressive offseason that saw him do exceptionally well in testing, he capitalized on that potential to become the first driver to secure his first win in a season opener since James Hinchcliffe won on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida in March 2013.

But as much as there were potential and hype surrounding Palou’s move to Chip Ganassi Racing this year, there was doubt about how the team would perform as a four-car operation, given how disastrous their 2017 season, specifically the second half of the season, played out.

They shifted to a two-car team for the 2018 and 2019 seasons before bringing back a third car in 2020 for Marcus Ericsson. Only Dixon finished in the top 10 in the championship standings last year for the team, winning the title. But they still brought back the fourth car.

Instead of having Johnson split time with Tony Kanaan in the #10 car, which Kanaan drove full-time from 2014 to 2017, Palou was hired as the full-time driver of that car, and a separate entry was added for the rookie and the veteran.

That’s already proven to be worth the gamble, and Palou has the golden opportunity to do something even more special.

In the latter half of the 2000s and the early 2010s, the #10 Chip Ganassi Racing car was the car to beat, plain and simple.

Fresh off of two full seasons with Andretti Autosport (Andretti Green Racing) which saw him win three races and finish in second place in the championship standings in 2004 and win six races and the championship in dominant fashion in 2005, the late Dan Wheldon joined the team ahead of the 2006 season and continued his success.

He won two races in each of his three seasons behind the wheel of the #10 car. In 2006, he tied for the championship with Sam Hornish Jr. but lost out on a tiebreaker. He finished in fourth place in the standings in the next two seasons.

Then Dario Franchitti, a former Andretti Green Racing driver himself, took Wheldon’s spot following an ill-fated stint in the NASCAR Cup Series with the team. He won five races plus the championship in 2009, three races, including the Indy 500, plus the championship in 2010 and four races plus the championship in 2011.

He won the 2012 Indy 500 for the team, but in the #50 car, thanks to a sponsorship initiative for then-primary sponsor Target.

Since Franchitti’s final win in the #10 car in 2011 on the streets of Toronto, Ontario, things have not gone well to say the least.

The car that won 18 races and three championships from 2006 to 2011 suddenly found itself out of contention on a regular basis, even with Franchitti behind the wheel during his final two seasons in 2012 and 2013.

Alex Tagliani was the first driver to drive the car after Franchitti’s five-year run with the team, doing so in the season finale at Auto Club Speedway in 2013 after Franchitti was ultimately sidelined with injuries he suffered in a crash on the streets of Houston, Texas, forcing him to retire. He ran well and actually had a shot to win but crashed out late.

Kanaan replaced Franchitti for the 2014 season and won the season finale at Auto Club Speedway. But that #10 car did not find victory lane for six years after that.

Kanaan drove the #10 car full-time from 2014 to 2017 before a disastrous 2017 season for the team led to a shakeup in their roster — sans Dixon, of course. Ed Jones drove it in 2018 after an impressive rookie season for Dale Coyne Racing in 2017, kind of like Palou is doing now, but he was cut after a disappointing season. Felix Rosenqvist replaced him.

Rosenqvist, despite winning Rookie of the Year honors, did not find victory lane at all in 2019. Finally, after just one win in the last nine years, he got the #10 car back to victory lane at Road America in 2020.

But he left the team after just two seasons for Arrow McLaren SP, leading Chip Ganassi to make what was considered somewhat of a surprising move by hiring Palou.

And in race number one behind the wheel of the #10 Honda, Palou found victory lane.

Chip Ganassi Racing have long been considered one of the giants of IndyCar. But as of late, it’s really been more Dixon Ganassi Racing than anything. Since Franchitti’s final win in the #10 car in July 2011, Dixon has secured four of his six championships and never truly been challenged by a teammate over the course of an entire year.

Until now, the driver of the #10 car hadn’t sat atop the championship standings since October 2011.

That lack of success isn’t just limited to mediocre performance by the #10 team, either. The team’s only other non-Dixon win since 2011 came in 2013 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, when Charlie Kimball secured the lone victory of his career.

So prior to the 2021 season, the perennial powerhouse team had just four wins by a driver other than Dixon since 2011 — and just two since Franchitti’s career-ending crash.

Now Palou has a chance to reignite the team’s legacy as a true elite-level team with depth that goes beyond one driver, even if that driver is one of the three greatest ever.

And he certainly put the field on notice on Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park in what was only his first try.

How will Palou fare in his second attempt behind the wheel of the #10 Honda? The second race of the 2021 IndyCar season is scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 25. This race, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, is set to be broadcast live on NBC beginning at 12:00 p.m. ET from the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. He finished this race in 13th place last October.